Chapters Equestria Superhero Girls: Trouble at Joey Drew Studios
New York, Brooklyn.
Henry Stain, an elderly retired animator, stood outside an old, dilapidated building. This was no ordinary building, it was Joey Drew Studios, in its heyday a mostly successful animation studio. Now, the building lay abandoned, forgotten.
Henry looked down at the letter he had received the day before.
It read, 'Dear Henry, it seems like a lifetime since we worked on cartoon together. 30 years really slips away doesn't it? If you're in town, come by the old workshop there's something I need to show you. your best pal, Joey Drew.'
Now, here Henry was, outside the building, the very building he and his once good friend Joey Drew had founded together.
Without hesitation, Henry entered the building, the door closing behind him.
Once inside, Henry was surprised, the inside of the building was remarkably still intact.
"Alright, Joey, I'm here," Henry breathed, "let's see if we can find what you wanted me to see."
The next morning, Canterlot City, Twilight's house.
Twilight Sparkle, along with her sister, Midnight Sparkle had woken up and were having breakfast and watching tv.
"Our top story," the news anchor said, "police are still searching for Henry Stain, former animator and co-founder of the short lived animation studio Joey Drew Studios, who has been missing for the past few days. His wife reported his disappearance to the police when her husband failed to return home, after conducting an investigation, the police found no trace of Mr. Stain. While the case is still open, with no new evidence or leads, the police is asking for any help they can get and now we go to Steve Lombard with the weather."
"Weird," Midnight said, while the weather was being announced, "with the amount of geniuses in the superhero community you'd think someone would have found something by now."
"Yeah," Twilight agreed, "It reminders me of a similar case I heard about, when I was at Crystal Prep, something about a bunch of unexplained disappearances, they were all people who were connected to or worked at Joey Drew Studios, but that case was closed years ago, because of a lack of evidence."
"You think it's related to this case with Henry Stain?" Midnight asked.
"Maybe," Twilight replied, "but I don't think that we can jump to conclusions, we don't know all the details."
"Yeah," Midnight conceded, "I guess you're right."
The two continued on with their day, all the while, the mysterious of Henry Stain's disappearance was on Twilight's mind.
They met up with their friends, they too, had seen the news report and were likewise intrigued and concerned about it.
Applejack mentioned, that Granny Smith used to watch the cartoons that were made by Joey Drew Studios when she was a teenager.
When asked about the studio, Granny Smith said that once Henry Stain left the company, the studio began to decline and then eventually was closed down and abandoned.
As they searched the studio on the internet, there were thousands of theories and rumours surrounding it, an episodic horror video game and even an upcoming movie.
The internet wasn't shy about making unsolved mysteries into horror games.
Eventually they checked out some of the old cartoons, the cartoons had since been digitised and preserved by dedicated fans.
"These are funny," Pinkie said, as they watched one of cartoons featuring their most iconic character and basically the face of the studio, a mischievous devil named Bendy.
When the cartoon was over, Twilight scanned the credits of the cartoon, looking through every name.
"Something wrong, Twi?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know," Twilight replied, "but something about these names that looks for familiar."
"Yeah," Midnight said, "this morning you said, there was a bunch of unexplained disappearances a few years back, they were connected to Joey Drew Studios."
"Right," Twilight nodded, pointing to the credits list, "these are some of the names of the people who disappeared."
"I don't see what this has to do with this Henry Stain guy," Rainbow Dash interrupted.
"It has everything to do with it," Twilight answered, "the people who worked or were connected to the studio are being targeted."
"But why?" Fluttershy asked, "and why Mr. Stain?"
"Maybe because he was the co-founder," Sunset suggested, "Granny Smith did say that after Henry left, the studio began its downward spiral."
"Maybe it's someone with grudge?" Rarity added, "revenge for the studio's collapse."
"That's horrible," Pinkie said, "cartoons are supposed to make you smile."
"Maybe so," Twilight stated, "but it's clear, something is happening and Joey Drew Studios is at the centre of it."
"So, where do we start?" Applejack asked.
Twilight looked back at the names on the cartoon credits, looking for any name she hadn't seen before.
After some searching, she zeroed in on one name in particular, Riley Wells.
"Riley Wells," Sunset repeated, "it's a good place as any to start."
Equestria Superhero Girls: Trouble at Joey Drew Studios
Twilight had managed to find Riley's address, with a little help from more tech cavy heroes, Barbara Gordon formerly Oracle now Batgirl and Richie Foley a.k.a. Gear
Twilight and company arrived at the home of Riley Wells, an artist who had worked at Joey Drew Studios in its heyday.
Without any hesitation, Twilight knocked at the door to the house. After a few minutes, an elderly man opened the door.
"Mr. Riley Wells?" Twilight inquired.
"Yes," the man answered, with a warn smile
"We were wondering if we could ask you some questions," Twilight continued, "about your time at Joey Drew Studios."
The moment the studio's name was said, Riley's demeanour changed, he immediately slammed the door in Twilight's face.
Not one to be easily deterred, Twilight knocked on the door again.
The door opened ajar, "Please," Riley said, "just go away."
"But we're investigating the disappearance of Henry Stain," Sunset insisted, "please."
"If you know whats good for you," Riley replied, "you'll stay away from that place, trust me for your own good don't go anywhere near that studio."
With that, Riley slammed and refused to open the door when Twilight knocked on it a third time.
"Well," Rainbow Dash said, "that went well."
"He seemed to be afraid of something," Midnight noted.
"Now what do we do?" Fluttershy asked.
"We keep looking," Twilight replied.
Hours Later.
Twilight and her friends were exhausted, they had been to practically everyone who had worked at Joey Drew Studios, every one had seemed friendly, until the studio was mentioned, they all acted terrified and afraid.
"I don't know about you," Applejack said, "but something fishy is going on."
"Agreed," Twilight nodded, "we need to keep going, we can't give up."
"But we've asked everyone we were able to find," Rainbow Dash interjected, "there's no one else."
"There is one more," Twilight replied, "While I was looking for people connected to Joey Drew Studios, I managed to find someone else who worked there, Wally Franks, he wasn't in the animation department but he did work at the studio."
"I suppose it's worth a try," Rarity sighed, "we've tried everyone else."
With that, the girl moved on to their final stop, the home of Wally Franks, the Janitor and maintenance man for Joey Drew Studios.
Another few hours later.
"This is it," Twilight stated, "our last chance to get some information."
The others nodded, they understood.
Without another word, Twilight knocked at the door, no answer. She knocked again.
"If this is the police or the Capes and Tights crew," a voice from the other side of the door replied, "I already gave my statement."
"Mr. Franks," Twilight said, "we're investigating the disappearance of Henry Stain, we were wondering if you could help us."
"I already told the police everything," Wally answered, "I don't have anything else to share."
"Please," Sunset urged, "we're not with the police or the big hero teams, we really need to your help to solve this."
For a moment, there was silence, then the front door opened, Wally Franks offering the girls to come in.
"Thank you, Mr. Franks," Midnight said.
"Don't worry about it," Wally replied, "and none of that Mr. stuff, call me Wally."
Twilight and the others entered the house and followed Wally to his living room.
"So," Wally stated, "you really think you can find Henry?"
"We can't promise anything," Twilight answered.
"But we sure as heck are going to try," Applejack added.
"If you can provide any information about Joey Drew Studios or Joey Drew himself," Sunset said, "we would greatly appreciate it."
"Are you sure?" Wally pressed, "if you're planning on going to the studio, you might not like what you find."
"What you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Wally explained that, after Henry Stain left the company for greener pastures and to be with his family, Joey Drew took over the company and began making questionable decisions and purchases. Employees were practically run ragged and overworked and would be replaced and asking for sick day was next to impossible. Joey wanted his employees to always be working.
"Joey seemed convinced that magic and science were the same thing," Joey said, "then employees started disappearing, of course, I didn't question Mr. Drew, after all he wrote my cheques."
"How did you see all this?" Twilight asked, "surely, someone must have noticed you."
Wally smiled, mischievously, "thats one of the advantages of being maintenance man," he answered, "you're the man who blends in, the man who's name nobody can quite remember, the man who is always in the background, to everyone else I simply invisible, call it my superpower."
"Well, you've been a great help to us," Twilight said, "you've given us enough information for now."
"We should get going," Sunset nodded, "we still have a lot of ground to cover."
"You really should stay away from that studio," Wally insisted, "I repeat you won't like what you find."
"Maybe so," Rarity replied, "but we cannot stand by while someone is in danger."
The rest of the girls nodded in agreement, they got up and began to leave.
"You seem pretty dead-set on going," Wally said, getting up from his chair and reaching into a nearby drawer, "so you should take these."
He retrieved a pair of keys, they were rusted with disuse and had clearly seen better days.
"These are keys should open most doors in the studio," Wally explained, "they're pretty old so be careful."
"Thank you, Mr. Franks," Twilight said, "for everything."
"You don't need to worry about us," Rainbow Dash nodded, "we're the Champions, we can handle anything."
"I sure hope so," Wally murmured, as the girls exited his house, "hopefully you can end Joey's curse."
He closed the door and the girls began their journey to where Joey Drew Studios was located.
Equestria Superhero Girls: Trouble at Joey Drew Studios
Hours later, New York, Brooklyn.
The girls arrived in the general area where Joey Drew Studios was located.
"Okay," Sunset stated, "we need to spread out and find the studio."
"Even with my speed," Rainbow Dash suggested, "it would take a long time."
From the shadows, a figure watched the girls plan out their search strategy.
"Alright," Twilight said, "so we're all clear on the plan?"
The others all nodded.
"Okay," Twilight proclaimed, "lets move!"
With that, the girls all split up into teams and searched the city.
The city was large, almost like a maze, the girls searched high, low, up, down and side to side.
"This is taking too long," Twilight breathed, the search as starting to tire her out.
"If only we could find a clue to point us in the right direction," Sunset agreed, "someone must know where Joey Drew Studios is."
"Excuse me," said a voice, "I couldn't help overhearing, you are looking for Joey Drew Studios, correct?"
Twilight and Sunset turned to see a man, wearing a trench coat and his face hidden, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"Yes," Twilight answered, slowly, "why? Do you know where it is?"
"As a matter of fact," the man replied, "I do, I suggest you check the backstreets, the studio's a little bit out of the way, you see."
"Thanks for your help," Sunset acknowledged. As she and Twilight hurried off, ready to use the information they had been given.
"Happy to help," the man nodded,
Sunset and Twilight hurried off, ready to use the information they had been given.
Once the two had left, the man laughed as he dissolved into a mass of black liquid and drained away through a nearby grate.
Finally, outside Joey Drew Studios.
"Well," Twilight remarked, "this is the place."
The others soon joined the two in front of the studio.
"This place had clearly seen better days," Rarity remarked.
"I don't think we should go inside," Fluttershy said, "there is something unsettling about this place."
"Unsettling or not," Twilight stated, "Henry Stain is in there and we have rescue him."
Rainbow Dash moved towards the main doors of the studio.
She tried to open them up, but the doors were old and rusted shut, "Arrr," Rainbow Dash groaned, "they won't budge."
"Step aside, sugarcube," Applejack declared, activating her geode and ring, while winding up her fist.
With a construct enhanced punch, Applejack smashed the studio doors open.
"Thank you, AJ," Twilight smiled.
"Show off," Rainbow Dash mumbled, rolling her eyes.
Applejack gave her friend a playful punch on the arm.
Now that the entrance was opened, the girls proceeded inside the studio.
"What was that?" Midnight said, "I felt something."
She and others were now in what looked like the main area of the building.
"Ten seconds in," Sunset commented, looking around "this place seems somehow, unnatural."
"We can't worry about that now," Twilight reassured, "all we have to do is find Henry Stain and get out."
"Where could he be?" Applejack wondered, "who knows how big this place is."
"We'll search the entire building if we have to," Twilight replied, "he has to be somewhere."
All the girls nodded and they began searching, in some places there were small puddles of black liquid.
There was a clock, in the shape of the character Bendy, ticking away on the wall.
"Huh," Sunset murmured, "I could have sworn it was 14:30."
She turned to look at the clock again, only to bang her head on a pipe on the ceiling, there were pipes all along the ceiling, they seemed to be leading deeper into the depths of the building.
Before they had time to consider what their discovery meant, blobby humanoid creatures began emerging from the puddles of black liquid.
"What are these things?!" Applejack asked, as the creatures converged on all of them.
"I have no idea," Twilight said, "maybe they mean us no harm."
"Somehow," Sunset replied, "I doubt it."
As the creatures closed in, Twilight and her friends took up attack stances.
One of the creatures tried to attack Rainbow Dash, but a quick attack from her ring and the creature collapsed back into a puddle of black liquid.
Fortunately, the rest creatures were not too hard to deal with, they disintegrated after one hit as well.
"Okay, seriously," Rainbow Dash said, after the creatures had been dealt with, "What is going on?!"
"I said so," Fluttershy stated, "there's something wrong with this place."
"I hope this, whatever it is, doesn't stain my clothes," Rarity proclaimed, as she looked down at one of the puddles of liquid "I just had them washed."
"We should keep going," Twilight said.
A collective 'WHAT' arose from everyone else.
"Are loco in the coco?" Pinkie asked.
"Pinkie's right," Applejack nodded, "we should call in the big heroes and let them handle this, we have no idea what we are dealing with."
"The big heroes weren't able to make a break in Henry Stain's case," Twilight responded, "we've gotten further than they have so far."
"Even so," Midnight answered, "we should probably call in some backup, safety in numbers, you know."
"I guess you're right," Twilight conceded, "It would be good to pool our knowledge and formulate a plan."
Her mind now made up, Twilight and her friends returned to where they had entered the studio.
Only to find that the doors had vanished.
"What in tarnation?!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Are you sure this is where we came in from?" Sunset asked.
"I'm sure," Twilight replied, she was trying to remain calm.
"Okay," Fluttershy said, her voice filled with terror, "I'm officially freaking out now!"
"This isn't happening," Rarity uttered, "THIS. IS NOT. HAPPENING!"
"Let me out, let me out, let me out, let me out!" Rainbow Dash shouted, pounding on the wall where the doors had once been.
"Everyone stay calm," Twilight said, "we need to remain calm, we need to...."
Suddenly, Before Twilight could finish her sentence, the floor beneath them, gave way.
The girls all screamed as they plunged into the inky black depths of Joey Drew Studios.
Equestria Superhero Girls: Trouble at Joey Drew Studios
Twilight stirred, her vision blurry after the long fall she and the others had suffered.
"Arrr," she groaned, struggling to her feet, her vision slowly clearing.
The rest of the girls also began to stir and regain conscious.
"Are we still alive?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she and the rest got to their feet.
"I think so," Sunset replied.
"Where are we?" Midnight queried.
"I think we're still in the studio," Twilight answered, "who knows how far down we are."
"What do we do now?" Fluttershy said, steadily becoming more scared.
"We should look for a way out," Applejack suggested, "then we can call in backup."
"Right," Twilight nodded, using her ring to illuminate their surroundings, "lets go."
She was about to start moving off, until something on the wall caught her eye.
It was a message written on one of the walls:
'The Creator Lied to Us'
"Well," Sunset remarked, "thats not ominous at all."
"I really don't want to go on," Fluttershy said, "This is an evil place, I can feel it."
"We have to go on, darling" Rarity stated, placing a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder, "it's the only way to find a way out of this awful place."
Fluttershy, wasn't really good when it came to scary and spooky thing, but she knew her friends were right.
She took a deep breath, she had to be brave for herself and for her friends.
"Okay," she said, smiling weakly, "I'll be brave, thats what it means to be a hero, right?"
The others nodded, they were aware of Fluttershy's relationship with fear and were proud of their friend for being brave.
"Scooby dooby doo," Pinkie proclaimed, "we have some work to do now."
Now that everyone was ready, more or less, the girls ventured further into the darkness of the studio.
Those with Lantern rings, used them to provide light to see where they were going.
They walked for several hours, finding nothing.
Suddenly, the girls came across a hallway flooded with the same black liquid from before.
"Hmm," Twilight murmured, using her ring, she scooped up some of the black liquid and looked at it closely.
"You know what that stuff is, Twi?" Applejack asked.
"I think so," Twilight replied, "but I need you to scan it with you ring."
Applejack complied, scanning the black liquid with her ring.
"Ring says it's ink," she said, after a moment, "just regular normal ink."
"There is definitely nothing normal about it," Sunset insisted, "ink is just ink, it can't be alive."
"You mean that those things that attacked us were made of...." Rainbow Dash uttered.
"Ink," Twilight finished, "living ink."
She stared at the ink, it was moving, almost reaching for her.
She dropped the ink back into the hallway, the danger had become a little clearer.
"Okay," Twilight said, "We have to keep going, just remember don't touch the ink, we don't know fully what it is yet."
The others nodded.
Without another word, the girls proceeded through the ink flooded hallway, Sunset using her ring to create a bridge for them to walk above the ink.
Once they were on the other side, they found themselves in front of a small area that had been converted into a small make-shift shrine with a crudely drawn picture of the character Bendy on the wall.
There was another message scrolled on the wall:
'He will set us free'
"What is this?" Midnight asked.
"I don't know," Twilight replied, "looks like someone or something worships Bendy as a god or something."
"Hey," Rainbow Dash said, "I found something."
The others looked at what their friend had found, it was an old tape recorder, near the shrine.
"Maybe it was put there by the person who made the shrine," Sunset suggested, "put it on."
"Do we really want to play that?" Fluttershy said, "I really don't think we should."
"We have to know," Twilight stated, "we have to know what is going on here."
"Alright," Fluttershy nodded, "if you say so."
Without another word, Twilight pressed play on the tape recorder.
The recording began:
'He appears from the shadows to rain his sweet blessings upon me. The figure of ink that shines in the darkness. I see you my saviour. I pray you hear me.
Those old songs, yes. I still sing them. For I know you are coming to save me. And I will be swept into your final loving embrace.'
The recording ended.
For a while, no one spoke.
"Okay," Sunset uttered, finally, "I'm freaked out."
Suddenly, there was a loud noise from behind them.
They all turned to the source of the noise.
The noise turned out be Pinkie Pie, she was clutching old tin cans in her hands.
"Sorry," she said, smiling weakly.
"Consarn it, Pinkie," Applejack retorted, "you nearly scared us all half to death."
"But I was hungry," Pinkie replied, "so while you guys were listening to that spooky recording I found these in a closet."
She held out one of the cans, "want some?" she asked.
Twilight took the can, looking down at the label.
'Briar Label Bacon Soup, exquisite vegetable soup, spices, and soft bacon with an irresistible scent. Just the way the little devil likes it.'
With a picture of Bendy's smiling face giving the thumbs up next to it.
"I don't think its a good idea to drink this," Twilight said, "this stuff must be way past its due date."
"Actually," Pinkie answered, popping the lid on another can, chugging the contents down and tossing the can aside, "this stuff tastes so good, like it hasn't aged a day."
Twilight looked down at the can, she didn't know what was going on, but somehow she felt it all lead back to the ink from earlier.
"Well," Applejack said, "we wouldn't get outta here by standing around here."
Twilight nodded, she was still struggling to figure out was going on, but she knew she would be to figure it with help her friends.
Once everyone was ready, the girl continued all the while venturing ever deeper into the, seemingly, endless darkness of the studio.
Unbeknown to them, the girls were being watched, by cold black empty eyes.
"Don't worry my saviour," the owner whispered, "your offering shall be delivered unto you."